UK supermarket chain Morrisons has today become the first to roll out a nationwide scheme to sell food that has gone past its ‘best before’ date via the Too Good to Go app.

Available in the company’s 494 supermarkets, boxes of unsold fruit and veg, bakery and deli items are available to purchase for £3.09. Customers do not know the contents of the boxes until they pick them up from a local supermarket.

Morissons said it aims to help customers on a budget and to provide another outlet for food that might otherwise be wasted.

The new initiative is part of Morissons’ promise to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. Morrisons expects to distribute 350,000 boxes of unsold food in 2020, which will reduce CO2 emissions by 882 tonnes.

Morrisons Market Street director Jayne Wall said: “We are using technology to help us reduce food waste and to help more people afford to eat well. It will also mean we waste less food this Christmas as it will find a home for products that can’t be sold after the festive period.”

Too Good To Go UK country manager Hayley Conick said: “Every single day perfectly edible food goes to waste simply because it isn’t sold, and this is having detrimental effects on our planet. In fact, food waste contributes to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. We need greater awareness of the issue of food waste, so we are delighted to welcome Morrisons as our first UK supermarket partner. Together we can fight food waste and ensure that quality surplus produce doesn’t end up in the bin.”